Point Of View
by Katriona
Summary: In order to understand everything that's happened to her, Piper casts a spell to see things from other people's perspectives. However, the spell somehow backfires and puts Piper inside the minds of her loved ones. Can she still find the answers she's been
1. Introduction

Point of View  
  
Summary: In order to understand everything that's happened to her, Piper casts a spell to see things from other people's perspectives. However, the spell somehow backfires and puts Piper inside the minds of her loved ones. Can she still find the answers she's been looking for?  
  
A/N: As most of you know, I've got a lot of other fics competing for my attention. If you'd like to see more of this one, then I suggest you make friends with the nice purple button down there at the bottom.  
  
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I don't understand why this is happening to me.  
  
Prue's gone. Leo's gone. Why am I still here? Why am I the one who always has to watch them leave?  
  
Don't try to tell me they didn't have a choice. Prue could have fought for her life, she could have held on, she could have stayed with me until Leo came to heal us. And then there's Leo himself. He's even worse than she was. At least I know that she can't come back, and if she could she'd be here. I can't say that about Leo, can I? No. He left because he wanted to. He had the option of staying here with me and Wyatt. He knew we needed him, but he'd rather be Up There with the same damn Elders who've taken everything else from me. He abandoned me, he abandoned our son, and I still don't understand why.  
  
I can't go on like this. I need to know.  
  
I get up from my bed, where I've been spending so much of my time lately, and cross the room to check on Wyatt. He's asleep in his crib. I decide against waking him; after all, he looks so peaceful, and this shouldn't take long. I grab a baby monitor and tip-toe out of the room, watching to make sure my sisters don't see me as I slip into the attic. I know they'd try to stop me. I can't let them. I need to know.  
  
It doesn't take long to assemble the things I'll need. A candle, a piece of rope, a spell hastily scribbled on a scrap of paper. The spell, which usually takes me a while to complete, comes surprisingly easy this time. After memorizing it, I fold the paper into a thin strip and intertwine it with the rope. I light the candle, and hold the rope and paper into the flame, taking a moment to make sure it lights before I start chanting.  
  
"Spirits, let your wisdom show  
  
Tell me what I want to know  
  
To my questions you will bind  
  
The answers which I seek to find  
  
Another's perspective, let me see  
  
Why everybody keeps leaving me."  
  
I don't for a minute take my eyes off the candle. Halfway through the spell, the flame starts dancing. My vision starts to blur, and I can't think straight. I keep going anyway. By the end of the spell, I can feel myself slipping away... 


	2. Prue's Death

I awaken, although at first everything's blurry, as if I'm in a particularly bad dizzy spell. After a minute, my vision clears, and I realize I'm no longer in the attic. I'm downstairs, coming in through the front door. Behind me is a man - a doctor - wait, I've seen him before. That's Dr. Griffiths. He was killed, the same day Prue was, by the same demon. Before I can process this, someone else comes in behind him... Holy freaking crap, that's me! But how...?  
  
My eyes fall on the hall mirror and - Oh my God. I'm Prue. At least, I'm in her body. I can't control it; everything is still playing out the same way it did then, every move, every word, every breath. The spell... it must have sent me here, back to the day she died, but why? I remember everything about that horrible day. I know exactly what's going to happen next. How can I possibly get any answers in the span of a few short seconds? Is this just magic's way of screwing with me, making me relive my sister's last moments from her perspective, so I can go through the same hell she did?  
  
Or maybe there is a point to this. Once my mind stops racing, I realize I can hear Prue's thoughts. She's worried. Not surprising, considering the demon we're up against. An uncooperative innocent doesn't help, either. Prue's scared for him. She always did put other people's safety ahead of her own. But then, isn't that why I'm here?  
  
I feel - Prue feels - a chill. I feel her heart start racing; she knows something's wrong. Her first emotion is fear. I'm not surprised to realize that it's fear for me, the doctor, and Phoebe first, and for herself as an afterthought. She's resisting the urge to push me somewhere out of the way, somewhere safe, and let herself take the full impact of whatever it is that she's sensing. It doesn't occur to her that she won't be okay. How like Prue to believe she's immortal. Before this day, it never even occured to me that she's not.  
  
We're calling Phoebe's name, but she isn't there. It wasn't until later, after Prue was dead, that I found out she went to the Underworld to get Tempus to reset time. Sometimes, I used to wish that she hadn't. That way, I would have been the one to die. I used to think it should have been me instead of Prue, that Phoebe and Paige would have been better off with her than they are with me. Those feelings stopped for the most part after Wyatt was born, but ever since Leo left, I just haven't been completely sure...  
  
Prue's fear is increasing, mainly for Phoebe, as there's still no answer from upstairs. She's wondering if the chill she'd felt meant that Shax had gotten to Pheebs already. She pushes that thought away, instead concentrating on Dr. Griffiths.  
  
The doors fly open. Shax appears in a gust of wind, the bastard. Prue braces herself as best she can, but she barely has time to scream before he throws her through the wall. She hits the ground with violent force among all the debris, but the impact doesn't kill her right away as I'd believed. I can feel her fighting, trying to stay concious. Her body is almost completely numb. This should be reassuring; at least now I know she wasn't in pain, but instead I feel alarmed. If she were in pain, at least there might have been a chance. But she can't feel anything at all. That's not a good sign, obviously. She knows it, too, but she refuses to submit.  
  
She hears a crash, and suddenly I land next to her. She tries to reach over and take my hand, but she can't move. Still, even though she knows she's fighting for her own life, she's got plenty of worry to spare for me. I want to tell her that I'm okay, that she should concentrate on herself, but I can't. I can't do anything but watch, feel, my sister die.  
  
She's fighting like hell to stay alive, but to no avail. A second passes, and she blacks out completely. Another second. She's dying now. I feel her slipping away.  
  
I feel myself slipping away, right along with her. 


	3. Phoebe's Betrayal

I come to, and find myself in Cole's penthouse. He standing in front of me. I must be inside Phoebe's body now. At least, I'm pretty sure that's her voice I'm hearing when my - her - mouth moves.  
  
"Are you okay?" she asks, and I can feel worry for him coursing through her body.  
  
He deflects her question with two of his own. "What happened? What did you do?"  
  
"I vanquished him," she replies, and I can feel her tensing up in anticipation of his reaction. I tense up, too, or at least whatever part of me is in her does. I want to know who they're talking about, and when and why I'm here.  
  
"Oh, but he was our last chance," Cole says, but Phoebe shakes her head.  
  
"No," she counters, "It wasn't." She doesn't elaborate, as Paige, Leo, and I orb in.  
  
"Oh, thank God we found you," Paige says, and I suddenly remember what's happening. This is it, the moment Phoebe chose Cole over us, her own sisters. But why would the spell bring me back here? It's true, I still don't understand how she could have betrayed us, but now that she's back and Cole is gone, does it really matter?  
  
I can feel Phoebe's regret as she says, "It's too late." She looks at us, and a part of her wants to go back, but her love for Cole and the pull of the evil inside her is just too much.  
  
"What do you mean?" Leo asks, confused. "What are you talking about?"  
  
Phoebe picks up the Grimoir, and the evil in her starts to stir. I've never felt anything like this before, and I'm only getting it second hand. It's strong, and it's... bad, but at the same time, it's enticing. I start to think about how much strength it would take to fight something like that, when I realize that Phoebe isn't even trying. She's not exactly embracing it, but she's making no effort to rid herself of it and return to the side of good. The thought breaks my heart.  
  
"Hey, I thought only evil could touch that book," Paige points out. I don't need to be inside her head to know that she's as confused and hurt as I was.  
  
"That's right," Phoebe says. She feels a pang at the looks on our faces, but it's quickly replaced by anger and defiance. She's actually wondering where we get off telling her which side to choose!  
  
Just when I think I can't take anymore, I hear myself ask, "Phoebe, what's going on?"  
  
"I'm embracing my new destiny," she replies, and then she flames out with Cole. As much as I hate what's happening, I still have to admit that this power feels amazing. Phoebe thinks so, too. It's evil, and it excites her. Oh, Phoebe.  
  
They appear in a dark, large room. It looks like some kind of ceremony is about to begin. By concentrating on Phoebe's thoughts, I pick up that it's the coronation of the Source and his Queen. Cole and Phoebe. I still can't quite reconcile that these are the same two people who'd been part of my family for so long. Phoebe's my sister, and no matter what I'll always love her. On some level, I sense that she feels the same way about me. It's not as comforting as I thought it would be.  
  
"Are you sure about this?" Cole asks. "You're giving up your life."  
  
I can feel Phoebe's love for him emanating throughout her body. It surprises me, how strong that feeling is. "My life is with you and our baby. We'll be strong together. After all, we're family," she says. If only she knew that it isn't even their baby. It's the Source inside of her, evil incarnate. I wish I could believe that this baby is what's making her choose evil over good, but as Phoebe and Cole kiss, I feel her passion for him, and realize that she choose this of her own free will. This, apparantly, is what the spell wanted me to learn, because when they pull apart, everything starts to go black again... 


End file.
